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G-SYNC 101: Hidden Benefits of High Refresh Rate G-SYNC

Published Jun 20, 2017 by in: G-SYNC

Bonus Points

Often overlooked is G-SYNC’s ability to adjust the refresh rate to lower fixed framerates. This can be particularly useful for games hard-locked to 60 FPS, and has potential in emulators to replicate unique signals such as the 60.1Hz of NES games, which would otherwise be impossible to reproduce. And due to the scanout speed increase at 100Hz+ refresh rates, an input lag reduction can be had as well…

Blur Buster's G-SYNC 101: Input Lag & Optimal Settings

The results show a considerable input lag reduction on a 144Hz G-SYNC display @60 FPS vs. a 60Hz G-SYNC display @58 FPS with first on-screen reactions measured (middle screen would show about half this reduction). And while each frame is still rendered in 16.6ms, and delivered in intervals of 60 per second on the higher refresh rate display, they are scanned in at a much faster 6.9ms per.

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3751 Comments For “G-SYNC 101”

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wttrbb
Member
wttrbb

Hey man thanks for the detailed guide! I’m sorry if this is been mentioned anywhere I just couldn’t find it. What would your recommended settings for frame generation in games be? Is there anything to keep in mind when using that?
Kind regards

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4 days 36 minutes ago
jorimt
Author
jorimt

This article pre-dates FG, but yes, I have responded to similar questions in the comments section multiple times now.

That said, short answer is, FG isn’t directly related to VRR, which prevents tearing via 1:1 delivery of natively rendered frames for framerates within the refresh rate, whereas FG itself creates and inserts 1-3 artificially generated frames between each rendered frame.

As such, I have no VRR-specific recommendations for FG; if you want tear-free VRR, use my existing optimal settings with or without FG.

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3 days 5 hours ago
schustez
Member
schustez

does using reflex on + boost or ultra low latency always cap your fps below the max refresh rate of your monitor when you can sustain a higher fps or only when you are gpu bound?

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10 days 17 hours ago
jorimt
Author
jorimt

does using reflex on + boost or ultra low latency always cap your fps below the max refresh rate of your monitor

Whether the auto limit engages with VRR on + NVCP V-SYNC + Reflex or LLM “Ultra” depends on the engine of the given game and the flip model it’s using.

The auto-limit should engage in all cases with the above scenario, assuming the game is using a supported API, but there’s always the possibility of some dev choice and/or bug that can cause it to behave unexpectedly, or not engage at all.

or only when you are gpu bound

I’ve explained this in the article and comments section several times before, but there’s two forms of the auto-limit with Reflex when used with VRR in particular; 1) the auto-limit that is set slightly below the physical refresh rate whenever your GPU usage is below 99% AND your system can otherwise sustain an average framerate above the refresh rate (to ensure VRR remains engaged), and 2) a dynamic auto-limit that keeps the average framerate just below the maximum achievable to prevent the GPU usage from otherwise exceeding 99% when scenario #1 isn’t possible due to system performance constraints.

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10 days 9 hours ago
higorhigorhigor
Member
higorhigorhigor

In my tests with the AMD RX 6750 XT, an LG 180hz IPS monitor, on both Linux and Windows 11, I noticed that when I cap the FPS at 60, for example, in scenarios that could deliver 160 uncapped, what happens is that my GPU significantly reduces its clock speeds, and this creates instability in frame production, causing the refresh rate to fluctuate widely.

On Linux, in LACT (a program for managing GPUs on Linux), I created a profile for the specific game and activated a performance level option that keeps the clock speeds higher. This completely solved the problem that occurs when I limit the FPS far below what my GPU can produce.

On Windows, I haven’t found a similar option to this, but I also haven’t looked much since I’m not using Windows a lot. I came here to comment, so that in case you weren’t aware of this, it might help other users who feel they have this VRR disengagement issue even when the FPS seems stable in RTSS.

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13 days 6 hours ago
jorimt
Author
jorimt

That’s not directly VRR-related, but engine-load/system-capability ratio-related; the same thing you’re describing should affect general frametime performance without VRR engaged in that scenario at 60 FPS, it’s just more obvious with VRR engaged.

If the game in question can’t fully saturate GPU load at your chosen framerate/settings (separate of a CPU bottleneck), then the GPU clocks will dynamically drop at default.

The Nvidia equivalent setting is “Prefer maximum performance,” which doesn’t let the base GPU clock drop below maximum.

The “Boost” portion of Nvidia Reflex + Boost achieves this as well.

I typically use “Prefer maximum performance” per-profile for legacy games that don’t push my system hard enough to sustain the highest GPU clocks.

I haven’t owned an AMD GPU since the early 2000’s, so I don’t know offhand if it has a similar power management setting.

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13 days 6 hours ago
COLEDED
Member
COLEDED

Thanks for the detailed guide. Sorry if this is a mostly unrelated question, I ask because the power plan is mentioned in the conclusion section.

My default Window’s “High performance” plan puts my minimum processor state at 0% for some reason.

Is it a good idea to just use Bitsum’s highest performance plan from park control, which sets the Minimum processor state at 100%, all of the time? I haven’t seen an increase in idle CPU power consumption or utilization after changing to this profile

Does this setting actually changes anything?

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14 days 20 hours ago
jorimt
Author
jorimt

Personally, I just use “Balanced” (5%-100% processor) with unparked cores on my 13900k, but ymmv.

Whether core unparking is beneficial can depend on the CPU vendor/model. And as for minimum processor state, it doesn’t really matter what you pick for gaming, since the CPU is just going to boost to its highest available clock speeds once the game is running, regardless of your set power profile anyway.

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14 days 10 hours ago
PODDAH
Member
PODDAH

Before you read this, I’m sorry for wasting your time if this question has already been answered in the article or in the comments. I tried to read everything to the best of my ability and still am a bit confused because my English is not the best.

Hey, I’m just writing this to make sure that I’m using the best setting. I have adaptive sync on in my monitor’s settings, which enables me to use G-Sync, and then I have G-Sync compatible enabled and V-Sync enabled too on in NCP, and the preferred refresh rate is at application controlled. I tried checking the delay and everything in Fortnite, because it has a setting which lets me do that. This gives me the least amount of delay, and even if I change my preferred refresh rate to the highest available, it still pretty much gives the same delay. I also have my FPS cap in Fortnite set to 144 just in case. I tried other things, and either they give me screen tearing or more delay. I only have one question: is this good enough to get the least amount of delay without getting any screen tearing?

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15 days 4 hours ago
jorimt
Author
jorimt

the preferred refresh rate is at application controlled. I tried checking the delay and everything in Fortnite, because it has a setting which lets me do that. This gives me the least amount of delay, and even if I change my preferred refresh rate to the highest available, it still pretty much gives the same delay.

See:
https://blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-input-lag-tests-and-settings/

comment image

It’s not very important what it’s set to in most modern scenarios.

I only have one question: is this good enough to get the least amount of delay without getting any screen tearing?

Lowest possible tear-free latency is G-SYNC + V-SYNC + framerate at least 3 frames within your physical refresh rate (to keep VRR engaged at all times) + GPU usage under 99% (to prevent extra render queue latency separate of the sync latency VRR prevents).

Like1Vote Down 
14 days 10 hours ago
PODDAH
Member
PODDAH

Now i understand it fully thank you very much for the fast reply
have a nice day

Like1Vote Down 
13 days 19 hours ago
wpDiscuz

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